Indian entrepreneur and venture capitalist Arunachalam Muruganantham yesterday issued a statement highlighting NDF presidential candidate Sajith Premadasa’s staunch defence of his election promise to provide free sanitary napkins, or menstrual pads, to women and girls if elected president.
“It’s a good change to see the leaders across the world finally understood the importance of menstrual hygiene and women’s health for the development of their respective countries,” Muruganantham said in a statement posted on his Facebook page.
Premadasa made the promise last week, only to receive mockery from his opponents in the Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna (SLPP), including being branded as “Pad Man”, a reference to a 2018 biopic based on the life of Muruganantham, who had dedicated himself to designing and developing a low-cost sanitary napkin for women and girls in India.
Responding to the criticism last week, Premadasa posted on Twitter that he “will not shy away” from his pledge or the conversation about women’s menstrual hygiene.
“If we are serious about women’s empowerment, this is a basic place to begin.” Responding to his being branded as “Pad Man”, Premadasa said he “would wear this label proudly.”
His pledge, and his public defence of it against vicious backlash from his opponents, won Premadasa substantial public support for being the first political candidate to address a women’s health issue deeply steeped in stigma. The public spat led to calls for the original “Pad Man” movie to be made available in Sri Lanka. Referring to Premadasa’s stance, original “Pad Man” Muruganantham said “it is high time the leaders of nations became the ambassadors for menstrual hygiene awareness.”
One television station, ITN, had announced plans to air the “Pad Man” movie in view of the soaring public interest, but a complaint has been filed with the Elections Commission seeking to block the film from being aired by ITN on the grounds that it would unfairly promote the campaign of a presidential candidate.
The recommendations made by the Parliamentary Select Committee (PSC) that probed the Easter Sunday attacks in its final report are to be implemented through Parliament.
Accordingly, the report is to be debated in Parliament this week after which its recommendations will be implemented through the respective agencies.
PSC member JVP MP Dr. Nalinda Jayatissa has told the media that once the report is debated, it will be referred to the oversight committees of Parliament and the recommendations of the report would thereafter be implemented.
“The recommendations of the report must be implemented through Parliament. Parliament will refer the recommendations to the relevant ministries and departments,” Dr. Jayatissa has said.
According to him, the preliminary implementation of the recommendations will be through the Ministry of Education, Ministry of Justice, and Ministry of Religious Affairs as well as the Attorney General’s (AG) Department.
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